The Sensual World (song)

"The Sensual World"
Single by Kate Bush
from the album The Sensual World
B-side
  • "Walk Straight Down the Middle"
  • "The Sensual World" (instrumental)
Released18 September 1989 (1989-09-18)
GenreArt rock
Length3:57
LabelEMI
Songwriter(s)Kate Bush
Producer(s)Kate Bush
Kate Bush singles chronology
"Experiment IV"
(1986)
"The Sensual World"
(1989)
"This Woman's Work"
(1989)
Music video
"The Sensual World" on YouTube
Audio sample
"The Sensual World"
"Flower of the Mountain"
Song by Kate Bush
from the album Director's Cut
Released16 May 2011 (2011-05-16)
GenreArt rock
Length5:15
Label
  • Fish People
  • EMI
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Kate Bush

"The Sensual World" is a song by English singer-songwriter Kate Bush. It was the title track and first single from her album of the same name, released in September 1989. The single entered and peaked at No. 12 on the UK Single Chart. It was later re-recorded using only words taken from Molly Bloom's soliloquy from James Joyce's 1922 novel Ulysses, as Bush had originally intended whilst recording The Sensual World album. This version, re-titled "Flower of the Mountain", appears on the 2011 album Director's Cut.

The B-side to the original single was "Walk Straight Down the Middle", a bonus track on the CD and cassette editions of The Sensual World album. The 12-inch vinyl release of the single had a double-grooved A-side so that either the song or an instrumental version of the song would be played depending on where the needle was placed.

Writing and inspiration

The song is inspired by Molly Bloom stepping out of the black and white, two-dimensional pages of James Joyce's Ulysses into the real world, and is immediately struck by the sensuality of it all. It was originally supposed to be Molly Bloom's speech (from the end of Ulysses) set to music, but Bush could not secure the rights from the Joyce estate, so she altered it. In 2011, the Joyce estate granted licence to the material, and Bush rerecorded the song as "Flower of the Mountain", released on 2011's Director's Cut.

Musically, one of the main hooks in the chorus of "The Sensual World" was inspired by a traditional Macedonian piece of music called "Antice, Džanam, Dušice". As in the traditional version, the melody is played on bagpipes, in this case uilleann pipes played by Irish musician Davy Spillane.

Critical reception

David Giles from Music Week wrote, "A dazzling return to form after a few slightly indifferent releases, finds Bush in lustful mood. Church bells herald a mellow, dreamy song with the accompaniment of an Arabic woodwind instrument. Easily the best song she's written since "Army Dreamers", even if it is slightly on the long side."

Music video

The accompanying video for "The Sensual World", which features Bush dancing through an enchanted forest in a medieval dress, was co-directed by The Comic Strip co-creator Peter Richardson and Bush herself.

Use in film

The song, particularly the chorus section, features prominently several times in Atom Egoyan's film Felicia's Journey, highlighting the main character's sense of isolation and loss as she leaves Ireland and her estranged father for England.

Track listings

All songs were written by Kate Bush.

7-inch, cassette, and Japanese mini-CD single
No.TitleLength
1."The Sensual World"3:56
2."Walk Straight Down the Middle"3:48
12-inch, CD, and German mini maxi-CD single
No.TitleLength
1."The Sensual World"3:56
2."The Sensual World" (instrumental version)3:56
3."Walk Straight Down the Middle"3:48

Personnel

Personnel are lifted from The Sensual World album booklet.

Charts

Chart (1989) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA) 44
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) 31
Canada Top Singles (RPM) 58
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100) 35
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista) 11
Ireland (IRMA) 6
Italy (Musica e dischi) 16
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) 17
Netherlands (Single Top 100) 20
UK Singles (OCC) 12
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard) 6
West Germany (Official German Charts) 29

This page was last updated at 2024-03-16 10:02 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari